Trinidad Police “not daunted” by spate of killings

The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) says it is not daunted by the recent spate of murders in the country as the 11 killings last weekend brought the murder toll to 59 for the month.

Last year, Trinidad and Tobago had a record 605 murders.

“We are not daunted by the unfortunate and disturbing spate of violence over this weekend. We will continue to intensify our crackdown on gangs to break the hold of the deadly gang culture and criminality that leaves a trail of death and despair within our communities,” acting Police Commissioner, Erla Christopher, said in a statement issued late on Sunday night, as she acknowledged that the “weekend has indeed been an unwelcomed one”.

“What we may be witnessing is the storm before the calm, as the TTPS will continue to use its resources to suppress these gangs and other criminal activities. We will not stop applying pressure on those who are determined to disrupt and strike fear in

Giubert St Fort, a South Florida resident from Haiti said he was inundated with calls almost immediately after the Biden Administration said on January 5 it was opening a new legal pathway for migrants from four countries, including Haiti, who had US sponsors.

"Things are very tense because everyone is expecting a call from someone," said St Fort, 59, a social worker who is already sponsoring members of his family.

"Many people unfortunately are not in a position to sponsor family members or friends back home, but they are receiving calls nonstop."

Haitians living in the United States, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, say they are being sought out by everyone from immediate family members to distant acquaintances or neighbours they haven't spoken with in years, community advocates and immigration lawyers said.

Desperation to leave has grown in Haiti amid a political crisis and a spike in violence that most recently has included a wave of killings of Policemen, triggering protests by angry officers who attacked the residence of interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry."

(Excerpt from Reuters)

Venezuela tightens oil prepayment rules

Venezuela's State oil firm PDVSA is toughening terms for buyers after a month-long halt to most exports of crude and fuel, demanding prepayment ahead of loadings in either cash, goods, or services, company documents showed.

PDVSA's new Chief Executive Pedro Tellechea put the move in place this month. It reinforces measures implemented last year after several buyers skipped out on payments for oil, which provides most of the

After taking the helm, Tellechea launched an extensive audit of supply contracts, according to a written order to PDVSA seen by Reuters.

His order froze loadings, even pushed some vessels away that had begun receiving oil, until the review was complete and sale contracts could be modified or ratified, according to internal documents and three people familiar with the matter.

As of January 27, a total of 28 vessels including 21 supertankers were waiting near PDVSA's ports to load some 45 million barrels of crude and fuel for exports. Another four ships had loaded, but were waiting for authorisation to depart, according to vessel monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.

The new terms narrow a wide variety of contract modalities to a few requiring prepayment of cargoes entirely in cash or allowing payment via goods and services to Venezuela, but they must be received before Venezuela will release the oil, according to the documents. (Excerpt from Reuters)

Brazilian Police hunt dangerous prisoners after jail break

Police in Brazil are searching for one of Rio's most dangerous drug lords, Jean Carlos dos Santos, after he broke out of jail with two fellow inmates.

The three escaped from Bangu prison by tying bedsheets together and lowering themselves from a prison window to a rubbish dump.

the lives of all law-abiding citizens. We will keep up the fight. God willing, we will succeed.

“However, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service continues to work assiduously to investigate the recent murders, pursuing several strong leads,” she said noting that as it relates to the killings in the Central Division, early indicators suggest there are connecting features, which implies that the same group of individuals are responsible for these acts. (Excerpt from Nation News)

Jean Carlos dos Santos, 37, is notorious for having had his lawyer killed after the latter failed to get two gang members released.

He had been in prison since 2017.

Jean Carlos dos Santos, also known as Jean do Morro do 18, controlled much of the drug trafficking in the Morro do 18 favela in Rio before his arrest.

A court also found him and another gang member guilty of the murder of his lawyer, Roberto Viegas

Rodrigues, and of hiding his body.

An investigation revealed Rodrigues had been paid for getting two members of dos Santos's gang freed from jail. When he failed to secure their release, he was shot dead.

The two other fugitives who broke out of prison in the early hours of Sunday have been named as Marcelo Sterque and Lucas da Conceição.

Police have released photos of the three fugitives, all of whom are con - sidered highly dangerous.

One of them, Marcelo Sterque, had briefly broken out of the same jail once before. He walked out of the prison in 2015 to try to carry out a contract killing ordered by another inmate.

Sterque shot a woman 13 times before returning to his cell. An investigation at the time showed prison guards had been bribed to let him leave the prison and return unhindered. (Excerpt from BBC News)

Oil falls 2% as rate hikes loom and Russian flows stay strong

Oil prices dipped 2 per cent on Monday, extending losses as looming increases to interest rates by major central banks weighed on demand and Russian exports remained strong.

Investors expect the US Federal Reserve to raise rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, followed the day after by half-point increases by the Bank of England and European Central Bank. Any deviation from that script would be a shock.

"We're seeing a 'risk back off' sentiment from the past two weeks' rally on ideas that higher interest rates may slow demand more quickly," said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial.

Brent futures for March delivery fell US$1.76, or 2.03 per cent, to US$84.90 a barrel. US crude fell US$1.78 to US$77.90 per barrel, a decline of 2.23 per cent - its steepest decline in nearly four weeks.

The market also came under pressure from indications of strong Russian supply despite a European Union ban and G7 price cap imposed over its invasion of Ukraine. Both oil benchmarks last week registered their first weekly loss in three.

Besides the central bank meetings, a gathering on Wednesday of key Ministers from the OPEC+ group comprising the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia will also be in focus.

The OPEC+ panel meeting is unlikely to tweak output policy, three OPEC+ delegates told Reuters on Monday.

"The boat is not really in stormy seas right now. So why rock something that's not moving about as it is," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.

OPEC+ could "surprise markets with a small cut", oil broker PVM said, adding it was unlikely to tweak policy.

Earlier on Monday, oil prices rose on tensions in the Middle East after a drone attack in Iran and hopes for higher Chinese demand.

While it is not clear yet what's happening in Iran, any escalation there has the potential to disrupt crude flow, said Stefano Grasso, a senior portfolio manager at 8VantEdge in Singapore.

Hopes for a rise in Chinese demand have boosted oil in 2023. The world's biggest crude importer pledged over the weekend to promote a consumption recovery that would support demand.

"Markets have priced-in rising demand mostly from China so traders are taking a wait and see attitude for clear signs of a demand pull," Kissler added.

Traders also remained cautious on a hit to oil production and transportation in Texas after the state oil regulator advised pipeline operators to secure equipment and facilities after forecasts for severe weather over the next several days.

US crude oil inventories are expected to have dipped by about 1 million barrels in the week to Jan 27, a preliminary Reuters poll showed, while gasoline inventories were expected to have gone up. (Reuters)